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Privacy Policy

Surveys

Consumer Reports surveys consumers to understand their experiences with products and services they use and their views on various consumer issues for the purposes described below. We address information collected through participation in these consumer surveys separately because we treat these survey responses differently.

Please note that for purposes of our Privacy Policy, we differentiate our consumer surveys described in this section, which follow scientific methodological standards, from our efforts to gauge consumer views of our CR Publications, Services and Programs, and from informal questionnaires, quizzes and polls that appear in the CR Publications, Services and Programs.

Consumer Reports conducts consumer surveys using our own research staff or through research firms we hire. Our consumer surveys are conducted by phone and in electronic formats. We store survey data securely and retain it beyond the initial publication of results so that we can track trends over time.

When you participate in one of our consumer surveys, we ask for a variety of information - some of which constitutes personally identifying information about you or your family, including: (1) demographic information, such as your age, gender, and geographic location, and other information about you; (2) your experiences with products and services; and (3) your views and opinions on various topics.

The following principles govern our use of the information we collect through these consumer surveys:

First, your survey responses will be used only in combination with those of other survey respondents to produce information designed to help consumers in today's marketplace, including our own efforts to provide better products and services to consumers, and to move the marketplace in ways that protect and empower consumers. Aggregated survey information is used to develop content for our editorial reporting. We also use it to support engagement and advocacy efforts to influence legislative and regulatory bodies, and other important marketplace actors, working to get them to do more to protect consumers from unsafe, risky, or poorly performing products and services.

Your individual responses will remain confidential to Consumer Reports (and our agents and service providers) and will be used only for such research, product and advocacy purposes, unless you expressly agree otherwise.

We may provide certain survey response data with academic researchers and other third parties for their own research purposes, provided that such purposes are consistent with our organizational mission.

Consumer Reports may retain your survey responses to analyze product performance over time and to avoid asking you the same questions in subsequent surveys. For example, if you have already answered questions about a product you own, we may later ask whether you still own that product and whether you continue to experience a problem you previously reported.

Second, you will not receive marketing or other non-research materials as a result of participating in a survey, unless you expressly agree otherwise. However, it is possible that you may receive such materials as a result of your other business relationships with Consumer Reports, as described elsewhere in the Privacy Policy.

There are two general exceptions to these principles concerning when and how we contact you:

(1) As part of our quality control efforts, if you participate in a survey, you may be contacted by Consumer Reports or its agents to validate that you did take part in the survey; and

(2) Our researchers may follow up with you based on your specific answers to a survey. For example, if you tell us you have a particular car model and we have additional questions about that car, we may select you to participate in a second survey. If you do not wish to receive follow-up contacts, you can opt out of receiving survey-related communications from us. If you opt out, you will not receive any follow up questions about past surveys and you will also not receive any more consumer surveys described in this section from us.

For some surveys we may contract with other companies to issue survey invitations on our behalf, host surveys for us, or to perform other information-gathering, processing, and validation-related services. We provide these companies only with the information they need to perform their services.

If you opt out of receiving survey communications from us, please allow up to 10 business days from the time you contact us for your opt out to take effect. During that time you may continue to receive communications from us that were already in process.

To opt out from receiving consumer surveys, you can follow the opt out instructions in each survey email invitation. You can also call us at 1-800-234-1645 or write to us at: